Does Europe—Subconsciously—Expect America to Save It Again?

On the cruise I’ve been taking to six Baltic states, it suddenly struck me that Europe -- though perhaps only subconsciously -- expects America to save it once again in the end.

That would explain, in part, the fecklessness with which many of the countries -- Sweden as a notable example, but almost all with the exception of the Eastern European states -- treat the Islamic terror threat across their continent, this even after numerous attacks on their soil.

This is a threat that has already metastasized into a full invasion, a stealth jihad, as Robert Spencer would have it, with the nature of Old Europe changing beyond recognition. Indeed, it already has already gone a long way in that direction in many cities.

But few seem to be doing anything about it. One seemingly unmentioned reason: If things get really bad, daddy (Uncle Sam) will come to the rescue again, just as he did in WWII with the Marshall Plan and in the Cold War.

Now, you may have heard, in the spirit of “no good deed goes unpunished,” daddy is not particularly popular hereabouts, especially in the western European states. This dislike -- exacerbated, of course, by envy -- has only redoubled with the advent of the dreaded Trump. But just as in any family -- dysfunctional or otherwise -- daddy (should he exist) is almost always called upon in a pinch. The children may be embarrassed, even humiliated, to beg for help, but they’ll do it nevertheless.

The problem this time, however, is that daddy may not be able to, or even want to, come to Europe’s defense. Europe had the bad luck (not to mention lack of foresight) to get its cheap labor from an Islamic world that had contempt for Europe’s still relatively Judeo-Christian culture (even more contempt for its secularism) and no interest in assimilating. In fact, the reverse. Europe is obviously already paying the price. How much further it will go remains to be seen, but prospects are not good.

What does America do if, indeed, civil war breaks out in Germany or France? Equally complex, what do we do if France -- as in the novel Submission -- votes itself Muslim leadership, joining, to some extent anyway, that world? Outlandish? The novel was a best-seller for a reason. London, as we know, already has a Muslim mayor who has been, on occasion, more than somewhat sympathetic to extremists (while saying he opposes extremism).

Trump has waded into the issue by insisting that NATO countries contribute financially to the common defense as the agreement between the countries dictates. He is correct in this, but many of the European states would have to dismantle, or at least substantially diminish, their extensive welfare programs to do this.

Poland -- one of the poorer countries, but one whose experience of fascism via the Nazis and the Soviets is vast -- jumped in and contributed even more than its share. (Poland also has no interest in receiving Muslim immigrants and is being pushed to do so by the EU.) Some of the others, including Germany, are raising their contributions, but not to the promised level. You have the sense they are trying to buy America off, perhaps wait until Trump is gone.

For the moment, of course, he's not. Unfortunately, internal U.S. politics -- plus our rapacious media -- may convince European leaders his presidency is fragile and they have nothing to lose by stonewalling him. In so doing, however, they will be stonewalling themselves. They have more to lose than we do.